DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Indian sailor Abhilash Tomy rescued at sea after injury The French vessel Osiris found and rescued Indian sailor Abhilash Tomy on Monday after racing 740 kilometers (460 miles) through the Indian Ocean to reach the stranded 39-yearold. Tomy was taking part in the Golden Globe race around the world when his yacht was damaged and its mast broken in a storm on Friday. The Indian navy commander sustained a serious back injury. After boats from the French vessel managed to extract Tomy from his vessel, Indian reporter Shiv Aroor said the commander was "doing okay, conscious & in good spirits." Earlier, Australian authorities said Tomy was trapped in his bunk, communicating with rescuers via text. However, his main satellite phone was damaged in the storm and his injury made it impossible for him to reach the second satellite phone or the radio, and the batteries on the devices he had been using were running low.
EU takes Poland to court over judicial reform The European Commission issued a statement on Monday saying Polandʼs law on the Supreme Court, which lowers the retirement age of judges to 70 from 65, effectively forcing 27 of the 72 sitting judges into retirement, was "incompatible with EU law as it undermines the principle of judicial independence." It goes on to say that Poland does not "fulfil its obligations" of the "Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union." The EUʼs executive sees Polandʼs judicial reforms as detrimental to the EUʼs legal order, "creating a risk of serious and irreparable damage to judicial independence in Poland." In July 2017, the Commission launched an infringement procedure on the "Polish Law on Ordinary Courts," which Polandʼs ruling right-wing PiS party says is crucial to reform regulation that dates back to communist rule and therefore needs to be overhauled.
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Angela Merkel admits mistakes in row over spy chief German Chancellor Angela Merkel has apologized for mistakes
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has apologized for mistakes in the handling of the controversy over ex-intelligence chief HansGeorg Maassen. She says the coalition will now focus on "solving peopleʼs problems."
Marijuana stocks hit all-time high The stock market has a new star sector: cannabis companies. The drug is conquering the United States and the legalization campaign is also pulling some big investors into the business, including Coca-Cola. The grass business has traditionally conjured the furtive exchange of green crumbs in small plastic bags. But with a growing body of research into the drugʼs medical benefits and cannabis products approved for bothmedicinal and recreational use in some US states andCanada, marijuana companies are winning over more investors. BDS Analytics estimates that global spending on cannabis products will rise 230 percent to $32 billion (€25 billion) by 2020. In February, the
first marijuana company was listed on an US stock exchange with the IPO of the Cronos Group, a milestone for the industry. Since then, other marijuana companies have been listed onmajor stock exchangesalongside Apple, Microsoft and Facebook. Read more: Tesla shares take a hit after Elon Musk smokes marijuana Canopy Growth went public in May, followed in July by Canadian firm Tilray, whose market valuation has exploded 800 percent to $14 billion. Shares of all listed marijuana companies rose 96.56 percent in August alone. For comparison, the financial sector gained 1.13 percent over the same period and the broad S&P 500 index, which lists 500 companies across 11 sectors, is up just 0.74 percent.
Beethovenfest wraps up with tributes to the power of fate Over 2,000 artists dealt with the idea of "fate," which was this yearʼs motto at the Beethovenfest in Bonn. Despite a varied and exciting program, sales for the festival could have been better. The closing concert of the Beethovenfest featured two pieces that were worlds apart. The movements of conductor Michael Boder were revealingly discreet and precise as he directed the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in their interpretation of Morton Feldmanʼs "Coptic Light" from 1986. The
piece is designed to allow the musical tones of different groups of instruments to emerge without changing how loud they play, or the way they are emphasized. Brucknerʼs unfinished Ninth Symphony By contrast, for Anton Brucknerʼs Ninth Symphony in D minor, Michael Broderʼs movements were expansive, allowing the orchestra to extract every dimension of the piece: powerful string passages that end in pleasant melodies or disharmonious chords that pile up and abruptly end in harmonious sonorities.
Deadly storm brings major disruption to Germany Germanyʼs firstmajor autumn storm devastated southern and central parts of the country on Sunday. Storm "Fabienne" claimed the life of a 78-yearold German woman, who died after being struck by a falling tree at a campsite in Bavaria. Meanwhile, in the neighboring German state of Baden-Württemberg, violent winds blew a large beech tree onto a car in which a four-year-old boy was sitting. According to officials, the child suffered severe head injuries and was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
Russia to supply Syria with S-300 defense systems yrian regime troops willreceive S-300 missile defense systemsfrom Russia within the next two weeks, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday. The modernized version of the Soviet-era system "is capable of intercepting aerial attacks at the distance of over 250 kilometers and simultaneously countering several targets," the minister said. The move comes after Moscow blamed Israel for indirectly causingthe destruction of Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane last week.The incident claimed the lives of 15 Russian soldiers. "We are convinced that these measures will cool down the ʼhot headsʼ and keep them from ill-conceived actions threatening out troops," Shoigu said in his televised address.
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